#F1 #LasVegasGP FP2: @CharlesLeclerc heads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two in delayed session.

Leclerc Las Vegas GP FP2 – Charles Leclerc lead from team-mate Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari one-two in a delayed FP2 session at the Las Vegas GP, following the water valve issues that plagued opening practice.

 

 

Leclerc set the session-topping benchmark of a 1:35.265 on the C5 red side-walled softer compound and was 0.517 seconds quicker than team-mate Sainz as Alonso was a further 0.528 seconds off in third.

 

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed the top three as newly-crowned multiple world champion Max Verstappen placed sixth for Red Bull.

 

The session got underway two-and-a-half hours later than scheduled due to repairs to the track surface along Las Vegas’ famous “Strip” after Ferrari’s Sainz and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon’s heavy damage in FP1.

 

Free Practice 2 took place with no fans after the police, on behalf of the race organiser, Formula 1 itself, had to clear all the fan areas including grandstands due to security staff shift patterns changing.

 

In the opening proceedings of the extended 90-minute session to make up for the lost running, the field was split on the softs and yell0w-marked C4 medium rubber as they examined how many tours to were needed to prepare for a hot-lap whilst completing lengthy opening stints.

 

Several drivers had stints at the top of the pile as track evolution kicked in with more rubber being laid down and the tyres finally heating up on the smooth new surface.

 

This meant the times started to tumble, firstly with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with the first registered benchmark of a 1:42.832 to Verstappen’s 1:38.209 by the end of the opening 15 minutes, with Leclerc sitting 0.116 seconds off of the Dutchman at this phase, but having run the softs.

 

After a lull in on-track action up to the 25th minute-mark, Leclerc emerged back out on the softs, as Verstappen soon joined him on the same tyre.

 

Neither driver improved on their initial stints on the softs, the duo having a bizarre incident heading down the “Las Vegas Strip” at the end of their sighting tours when Verstappen was “racing already”, with Leclerc, as the Red Bull driver moved past the Monegasque driver into turn 14.

 

This left Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Sainz to jump ahead on the time-sheets, with Perez posting a 1:37.807 before Sainz ousted the Mexican on a 1:36.984 – after the Spaniard had climbed to the top, briefly, during the initial running in his first flyer in his repaired SF-23 racer.

 

Verstappen’s second attempt on a softs hot-lap went wrong as he locked up at turn 12 and had to take to the escape road, whilst Leclerc relegated Perez to second.

 

As the drivers continued to circulate the Las Vegas Strip Circuit on lengthy stints, Verstappen eventually beat his medium initial personal best effort to run adrift of the Ferrari pairing, which by the 35th-minute mark of proceedings was Leclerc at the top of the order with a 1:36.660.

 

Five minutes later, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton moved into second place – a very slim 0.003 seconds adrift of Leclerc – with Sainz and the Red Bull duo back in the pits.

 

Before he also returned to the pits, Leclerc set a purple in sector one before losing time through the other two sectors and ended up 0.8 seconds down on his best effort.

 

Whilst the initial forerunners made adjustments to their machinery, Aston Martin’s Alonso demoted Leclerc back to second by 0.003 seconds himself with his 1:36.657 as the session hit the 50th-minute mark.

 

He then returned to the pits as the other forerunners emerged, Sainz and then Verstappen took over the P1 spot before Leclerc flew to the top setting a 1:35.696 with 55 minutes on the clock.

 

Verstappen then cut the gap to Leclerc, but then the Dutchman was relegated back by Sainz, Perez and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, before Alonso jumped back up to second and Leclerc lowered the benchmark to a 1:35.265 as the session reached the 65-minute mark.

 

By this stage of proceedings, the Mercedes pairing switched to the traditional long race runs to end FP2 on the medium rubber, with Verstappen doing the same on the softs.

 

Eventually, the Ferrari drivers, Alonso and the rest followed suit on high fuel runs which secured the top three with Leclerc, Sainz, Alonso, Perez, Bottas, Verstappen, Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completing the top eight.

 

Mercedes’ Hamilton and Williams’ Albon rounded out the top ten.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished Free Practice 2 outside the top ten in 11th as the Briton jumped up from last in the closing stages, a gain that came after spending the early proceedings in the pits due to a cooling sensor issue.

 

Norris placed ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell who took 12th and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who finished the session 15th.

 

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri came 14th in the order and in-front of Alpine pairing Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon who were 15th and 16th respectively.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri duo Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo ended the session in 17th and 19th respectively as Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant placed 18th and at the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1225/las-vegas/practice-2.html

 

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#F1 #LasVegasGP: FP1 cancelled due to track repairs.

#F1 @Heineken Silver #LasVegasGP 2023 Preview. #Formula1